XP issue

[Fadelity]

Hi
Over the past 2 or 3 days my computers been acting a bit strangely, mainly it seems to happen in Firefox though that could just be because I use Firefox more than any other program.


When I open a window or at the end of Windows loading I can't click on a link or on screen button unless I switch to another window then return to try again, this also seems to stop me accessing task bar sometimes unless I alt-tab to an open window to force the task bar to show (It's set top auto hide); It's confused me to no end like clicking what I think is a broken link when actually it's just the open Window being stubborn.


It may be irrelevant but I think it started happening after I tried to watch a movie through the DVD drive when I thought there was a power cut but it seems the extension cable may have blown its fuse.
Any help and/or advice would be appreciated before I resort to reformatting
Thanks

[mikeL]

If it is only happening in Firefox I would uninstall then reinstall firefox,

[Fadelity]

I don't think it's specifically related to Firefox, I just loaded XP and before I'd even opened any new windows it wouldn't allow me to use the loaded windows (Mem Turbo 4, Sysinternals Process Explorer, Startup Faster, Outpost Firewall and NOD32 2.7) unless I Alt + Tab between them.

Lets say I'm searching through a folder and I double click a Directory Icon, now that the new directory is open it doesn't seem to register that I'm clicking anything until I swith to another window then switch back, now it may let me use the window normally or it might let me do one thing before I have to Alt + Tab again.

[shadowpr]

what are your specs? Make and model of parts including power supply?

Have you run www.memtest.org and hd diagnostics?

Also, have you run anti-virus and anti-malware programs?

How much free space does your hard drive have?

Run www.ccleaner.com and let i clean out the temp files.

[Fadelity]

Built this as a budget PC about 2 years ago
AMD Sempron 2800+
2x 512MB DDR2 RAM
Radeon x800
Coolermaster case (I'm OCD about overheating)

Don't recall what PSU it has

Virus's, Malware and spyware are always my first thoughts

Registry and Memory scan run themselves periodically

[shadowpr]

What have you used for antivirus and antimalware scanners?

How much free space?

Have you run those diagnostics yet?